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The corresponding interrogative
pronouns for non-sentient beings are what and
which, and the relative pronouns are that
and which. That and which are sometimes
used in contexts where who might be a more suitable
choice, and who is likewise used in contexts where
that or which would be a more suitable choice. In
addition, the possessive version of the non-sentient pronouns is
the same as that of who: whose takes this role for all of
them. E.g., "I will have to fix the car whose engine I ruined".

Contents

Case
forms

Traditionally, who is the subjective (nominative) form only.
According to traditional prescriptive
grammar, who is a subjective pronoun (subject of the
side clause), and whom is the corresponding objective and
dative pronoun (an
object of the side clause). Whose is the possessive form, which is sometimes
confused with who's, a contraction of who is or
who has. See also: English
declension.

He is someone whom I owe a great
deal. ("I" is subject; "whom" is the object referring to the
sentence subject he)

He is someone whom I admire. ("I" is
subject; "whom" is the object referring to the sentence subject
he)

He is someone whose help I
appreciate. ("Whose" is adjunct to help which is possessed by
the sentence subject he)

The form who is replacing whom in objective
case contexts. As early as the 1970s, the
who–whom distinction was identified as having
"slipped so badly that [it is] almost totally uninformative"
(Wanner & Maratsos 1978). According to the OED (2nd edition,
1989), whom is "no longer current in natural colloquial
speech". Lasnik & Sobin 2000 argue that surviving
occurrences of whom are not part of ordinary English
grammar, but the result of extra-grammatical rules for producing
"prestige" forms.

Whom remains in significant use following a preposition (see examples immediately
below). In informal contexts, the preposition may instead be placed
at the end (see preposition stranding), and
the word who may be omitted where it is used as a relative
pronoun. For example:

(Relative, formal): He is someone to whom I owe a great
deal.

(Interrogative, formal): To whom did you give it?

(Relative, informal): He is someone (who) I owe a great
deal to.

(Interrogative, informal): Who did you give it
to?

Rules
for determining who vs. whom in traditional
usage

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Use with
prepositions

Whom is the form used when it is the object of a preposition. Again, this is analogous to
personal pronouns, for which the objective form is also used after
a preposition. For example:

To whom have you been talking? (Compare: You have
been talking to him.)

For whom have you taken these marvelous photographs?
(You have taken these marvelous photographs for
him.)

With whom are you going to the cinema? (You are
going to the cinema with him.)

He sent gifts to his granddaughter, of whom he was
fond. (He sent gifts to his granddaughter; he was fond
of her.)

Forms with who in which the preposition does not
immediately precede the pronoun are commonly judged acceptable in
everyday use, and in spoken use especially:

He sent gifts to his granddaughter, who he was fond
of.

However, this form often violates the (separately controversial)
rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, so the traditional
objective form may be preferable, even in speech.

Indirect object with or
without to

The indirect object is normally formed with
to, so is generally just a particular example of the usage
with prepositions (to whom). In some situations,
whom can also be used by itself to represent the indirect
object. However, this is only really used in contexts where the
direct object is omitted:

Whom will you tell?

In fact, the following is normally considered acceptable in
everyday use, especially in speech:

Who will you tell?

Where the direct object is expressed, to is generally
included, even where an analogous sentence using a personal pronoun
might use the pronoun as the indirect object:

You will tell him a story.

But:

To whom will you tell a story?

When the to does not immediately precede the pronoun,
either who or whom is generally considered
acceptable:

Whom will you tell a story to? [Rather formal.]

Who will you tell a story to? [Less formal, and more
common in fact.]

Who(m)(so)ever

According to traditional grammar and guides to usage, the
relative pronouns who(m)ever and who(m)(so)ever
take the case appropriate to their internal clause:

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field
of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the
Gods. (Albert Einstein)

Whoever is in the nominative because it is the subject
of undertakes in the noun clause whoever
undertakes...

Similarly:

Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone.

Whoever is in the nominative because it is the subject
of is in the relative clause whoever is without
sin (compare: he [or she] is without sin).

In this case, whomever is used:

Whomever you meet there is bound to be
interesting.

The accusative form whomever is right, because it is
the object of meet within the internal clause Whomever
you meet there (compare: you meet her [or him]),
while the whole phrase whomever you meet there (rather
than simply whomever) is the subject of is in the
whole sentence.

Usage is variable, however: whomever is often employed
and defended where the rules given above would require
whoever, just as whom is often used as the
subject of a verb in more complex situations (see next
section).

Subject
whom

A special problem arises in constructions like this:

Beethoven, who you say was a great composer, wrote only one
opera. (Compare: "You say he [never him] was
a great composer.")

The form given with who is safe, and even beyond
reproach (since who is the subject of was).
Nevertheless, many use and defend “whom” in such a sentence. The
use of whom may arise from confusion with a form like
this, in which whom is used according to the standard
rules:

Beethoven, whom you believe a great composer, wrote only
one opera.

It may be unclear whether the clause whom you believe a
great composer should follow the rules for you believe
him to be a great composer (taking objective
case) or you believe that he is a great
composer (taking the subjective).

Here is an example from The Age newspaper (Melbourne, Australia),
which in April 1999 syndicated an article from the Washington
Post concerning the Columbine massacre:

But if others were involved, it was Harris and Klebold whom
students said seemed the tightest, who stood apart from the rest of
their clique.

The Washington Post'soriginal article
"correctly" had who students said, but The Age altered this as a
matter of house style to whom students said.
(The continuation with the parallel construction
who stood apart illustrates how The
Age style can lead to inconsistencies.)

Even the King James Bible has the problematic
whom as a subject at least six times, and has been much
censured for it:

(Technically, ye is the subject associated with the
verb say in But whom say ye that I am? and
I is the subject associated with the verb am.
Who[m] is a subject complement, as it
would be in Who am I? or I am who? It is not an
object complement.)

There are similar examples in Shakespeare:

Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown'd, [...]
(The Tempest, III, 3)

They told me that when they were so knocked down, the rest
of their company rescued them, and stood over them fighting till
they were come to themselves, all but him whom they thought had
been dead;[...] (The Further Adventures of Robinson
Crusoe, Chapter 6, Part 1)

In this case, who[m] is the subject of had been
dead.

The OED traces subject whom back
to the 15th century, while Jespersen (1965 [1924], appendix) cites
even earlier examples from Chaucer.